AA Series III 109-inch station wagon of 1976 in all-over AA yellow with the AA Relay logo, roof rack and AA Service beacon board — the tow-pole recovery Land Rovers the Automobile Association ran from its depots between 1976 and 1982; a preserved example is shown by the AA at Goodwood.
BASE VEHICLESeries III 109″BUILT BYLand Rover (Series III 109-inch station wagon, 1976)IN SERVICE1976OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTIONunknownLAYOUT4 wheels · 109″
The record
In 1973 the AA launched Relay, the service that carried a broken-down car and its passengers home or to a garage anywhere in the country, and from 1976 it added Series III 109-inch Land Rovers to its depot fleets to feed it. Fitted with tow poles or working with trailers, the Land Rovers moved cars from awkward spots — soft verges, narrow lanes, ditches — to a safe point where a Relay truck could take over. They served until 1982, when heavier recovery trucks replaced them.
The Flickr photograph shows the AA's preserved 1976 example at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, parked beside an AA sentry box: a 109 station wagon in all-over AA yellow with yellow steel wheels, a short roof rack over the cab, an AA Service board with an amber beacon at the rear of the roof, the AA Relay arrows-and-badge logo on the front doors, a galvanised bumper and a plate that is not legible in the image. The registry model reproduces that vehicle in the Breakdown group; the plate is left blank and the number of Land Rovers in the tow-pole fleet is not given in the source.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover (Series III 109-inch station wagon, 1976)
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDERThe Automobile Association (recovery fit and livery)
MANUFACTURED1976 (AA tow-pole Land Rovers in service 1976–82)
FITTINGSTow pole, roof rack, AA Service board with amber beacon
SERVICEAA depots, 1976–1982
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries III
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE109″
CATEGORYSpecial · Breakdown
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
Imagery
No published image yetA rendering impression or a free-licence photograph will appear here once one is published — the sources below link to photographs elsewhere
Where it was
GB United Kingdom1976–1982 · AA Relay tow-pole recovery
EventGoodwood Festival of Speed (preserved example)United Kingdom · 2010–202050.87, -0.74
